The Aftershock
by EM-D8
Summary: Jaru, Tuftee and Kret are stolen from Oslaw, their home town, by visiting humans. How did they find them, and why are they here? And more importantly, what do they want to do with them? (Hybrid fanfic)
1. Stolen

E/N: This is a pokemon hybrid fic. If you don't like hybrid fics, don't read this.

* * *

Jaru looked around, almost guiltily, to check that his mum wasn't coming. The toaster wasn't working again, so he took out the bread and, after another glance, blew a quick Dragonbreath on it. 

The bread responded by catching fire. Jaru swore and tried to smother it out on the kitchen work surface, his hands cutting off the fire's oxygen. Finally the burning stopped, but there was a massive black mark on the surface. Jaru gulped. His mum would kill him.

"Jar, what have I told you about using attacks on food?" Lilla asked, arms folded.

Jaru dropped the toast, petrified, and looked up. His mother was standing behind him, her red eyes boring into his own.

"The toaster wasn't working," he said lamely.

Lilla leaned over and pushed the toaster plug into its socket, flicking it on. "Try now," she said.

Jaru, head down, picked up a fresh piece of bread and slid it into the toaster, while his mum picked up the charred piece. "I've told you before, Jaru, never use anything like that-"

Jaru was saved from a lecture by his dad arriving in the kitchen. "Hey, Jar," he said, and Jaru escaped by slipping away, where his dad gave him a quick hug. Everyone hugged everyone in Olsaw. It showed a friendly community.

"Greth, I'm trying to drill your son."

"Oh, right." Greth scratched his neck awkwardly. "Er.. what'd he do?"

"Set fire to his breakfast," Lilla answered.

"Yeah, well. Don't," Greth said haltingly, and before he could say anything else, Jaru's older sister appeared to join them. Jaru couldn't bear Estelle. She'd just evolved on her sixteenth birthday, last week, and was always showing off with those wings of hers. She was bad before, but now she was even worse. Lilla's tone softened at once. Jaru rather thought that she preferred her to him.

"Sorry, mum, I've got to fly. Ranon says he'll get me this job if I get there fast enough."

Lilla walked across and gave her daughter a hug. "You're such a good girl," she told her. Jaru rolled his eyes.

"And what are you doing today, Grunt?" Estelle asked Jaru.

He scowled. "Like you care."

"Getting with that loser group of yours again?"

"We're not-" Jaru started, but Estelle had already left. Lilla seemed to have forgotten the earlier incident, so he grabbed his breakfast from the toaster and slipped out the front door.

To his surprise, Tuftee was waiting at the gate for him. Tuftee wasn't his real name. It was Turk originally, but everyone changed it because he was always so soft. Either that or Turkish Delight. His mother was an espeon hybrid, and his father a jolteon, but Tuftee hadn't decided what he wanted to evolve into yet.

Tuftee himself had pale brown hair, with two typical eevee ears poking through. His skin was covered in the same tan fur, and he had a tail to match. Usually, fur this pale classified the runt of the litter, but since it was only noticeable when he was standing with his three older brothers and sister, nobody payed much attention.

Jaru was a trapinch hybrid, and was always hoping for his mum to praise him in some way, to be proud of him. He thought that prehaps he was his dad's favourite, but he always felt a bit left out when his mum admired Estelle so much. He could barely wait until he could evolve into a vibrava hybrid like Estelle, and could show her how good he was.

But for now he even looked boring, withthick brown skin. The only thing he found remotely interesting about him were the two spikes hanging down from his upper lip like canines on dogs.

Olsaw was quite a large town, north some way from Olivine in Johto. It was the only town completely inhabited by pokehybrids, and very few humans knew about it. It did not appear on any maps, and that was how the Olsaw residents preferred it- to be left alone.

For today, Jaru, Tuftee and possibly Kret would be wandering round together. They might meet Kret in the park, or he would be at one of those fighting classes of his. His parents insited on taking him and his brothers to these classes, where they learnt to harness the full potential of their fighting skills in times of need. Jaru had never been to a class, but didn't mind; he was was happy to be born with the move Dragonbreath- he could blow a flame up to ten feet high when in a competition. Second in the school; to Estelle, of course. Even though she didn't have time for 'games' like that any more, her record stood strong. Fifteen feet.

Jaru waved at Tuftee, grabbed his bike and shoved his toast into his mouth, before riding off after him. Both boys were thirteen, as well at Kret, who was a houndour hybrid. Kret was a good friend and was stereotypically loyal, but he had a really bad temper, and lost it easily. He was suspended from school a few years ago for breaking the leg of a hybrid two years above him. Apparently, the pidgeotto-hybrid had told him that he was "puny".

Kret had calmed down since then, and when he wasn't fighting, he was pretty good fun and could make anyone laugh if he was in the mood. Jaru was the oldest, but looking at all of them together, you wouldn't think that. Tuftee was tallest, but had a smile that made him look around seven.

The two boys halted at the park, Jaru digging his heels in so that gravel flew up on both sides. One of Tuftee's ears pricked up as he listened, and dismounted.

"Can you hear that?" he asked.

"No," Jaru replied, unworried. "It's probably just-"

A black and silver blur shot out of the nearby rhododendron bush and jumped on Tuftee. He yelled and fought back, scratching and hissing at it.

"-Kret," he finished.

Kret stood up and laughed, shaking imaginary dust of his hands. He had black hair that matched his face, arms and legs. On his muzzle, neck and chest the fur was blood-red, and under his chin could be seen his pack tattoo. He enjoyed showing it off, even though every dog-hybrid family had their own tattoo given to the pups when they were ten days old. The males recieved another at twenty-one, and the females at eighteen.

Tuftee stood up, slightly agitated , flattening his hair that always stuck out anyway. "Don't do that."

If anyone else had said that, Kret probably would have hit them, but he knew that Tuftee was joking, so just laughed, showing teeth. "Make me."

The eevee-hybrid shook his head. "You'll flatten me."

Kret laughed again, probably because it was true. Jaru got off his bike. "What do you want to do today?" he asked.

"Dunno. Just mess around. I've got the day off."

Tuftee stared at him. "You make it sound like you're in the army or something."

Hybrids were, as a rule, peace-loving beings most of the time, but there were some exceptions, like with Kret and the pidgeotto-hybrid. When the hybrids had first been free to live alone from humans, they were quiet and respectful to each other. However, this generation of hybrids and some before it had not live through the phase of violence, so had no respect for peace. For them, this comfortable life came easily and without bother.

"You never know," Kret said. "Anything might happen."

Kret seemed to be living in a worl where any moment, war would be upon them. He seemed to think that it would be hybrids against humans, so they'd have to be prepared. Oslaw's entrance was hidden by a large cave, and the city itself was in a canyon. Few hybrids had reason to leave. Kret, like many hybrids of this generation, had never seem a human- many stories had been spreading around, such as ones that claimed humans were ten feet tall, could breathe and spit blood, or could kill a hybrid by looking at them.

Jaru rolled his eyes. "You want to go to the lake?"

Kret nodded. "I've nothing better to do." He looked around. "You both on bikes?"

Tuftee nodded. "You going to run there again?"

Another nod. "Bet I can beat you this time."

"You only win because you use Agility."

"So? You're just pedalling. On your marks..."

"Go," Jaru said, having jumped on his bike. He pushed off and flicked up a few gears. Kret was already in front, but Jaru knew there was a hill in front of them. Behind them, he could hear Tuftee's bike screech into action.

Jaru won smoothly to his surprise, with Kret finishing a close second. He was always boasting about how fast he could run, and never bothered to hide it. As they waited for Tuftee, he sat down heavily, panting.

Tuftee suddenly squealed to a halt next to them. "Bike of a _draih_," he cursed, dismounting. "The stupid thing's chain had fallen off."

"Maybe you need a new one," Jaru suggested.

He shrugged. "It's all right for you, but since I've got four brothers and a sister, my parents can't really afford to buy us new stuff all the time."

Jaru couldn't think of an answer. It was natural instinct for hybrids whose pokemon counterpieces had large amounts of offspring to do the same. Dragon families like his usually only had a maximum of two children. Kret had a large family too, but he never said anything about it.

"So what are we going to do here?" he asked, standing up and stretching his arms.

"Don't know. Not much to do here."

"Not much to do anywhere," Kret corrected him. "_Draih_'s sake, I want to leave here."

Tuftee spoke up. "What would you find out there?"

He shrugged. "What would I find here?"

"Aren't you scared of the humans?"

He snorted. "I can take them on. Those stories, they're not true."

Jaru had tied his bike to the nearest tree while they were talking, and now gazed out over the water. It was a big lake, taking up around a quarter of Oslaw canyon. The council were talking on building houses over it, since the hybrid numbers were increasing, but Jaru hoped they didn't. He liked coming here; it was peaceful and made a change from bricks and concrete.

Kret and Tuftee seemed to have finished their debate, and joined their friend. "What're you looking at?" Tuftee asked.

Kret threw a stone at the water, watching it skim twice before sinking. "It's nice here, but too cramped."

"You can leave if you want," Jaru said. "I love it here."

"Typical," Kret sighed, shaking his head. "You'll be grounded all your life, stuck here." He looked at Jaru in an odd but hard way. "Don't tell me you've never wanted to know what's out there."

Jaru shook his head. "Once I can fly, I can go anywhere."

Tuftee said nothing, but gazing over the water himself, ear twitching. "Can you see something?"

"What?" Kret turned back to the water. "No."

"Not on the water," Tuftee said. "There, over the other side."

"Well, I haven't got your famous eyesight," Jaru said, looking away.

Kret, however, seemed to have found the offending distraction. "I see something. So what? It's probably just someone mucking about."

Tuftee shook his head. "The wind blew this way, and I caught a whiff of something that wasn't hybrid."

"What then?" Jaru asked. Tuftee shook his head.

"I don't know. But I've never smelt anything like it before."

"Let's go," Kret said, slipping into the trees that borded the lake. After some hesitation, the other two followed. The trees were quite thick, although most of the outside were borded by rock or buildings.

When Jaru and Tuftee broke through into the clearing they'd seen from the other side, the first thing they saw was a man. Not just any man though. A human man. He had his back to them, but Jaru was terrified anyway. The second thing they saw was Kret, crouched down behind a shrub, motioning furiously for them to get down.

Tuftee immediatly dived down beside the houndour hybrid, but Jaru was still frozen, afraid that the man would turn around at any moment. "Get down, you _draih_!" Kret was hissing.

Suddenly, Jaru came back to his senses and made towards the hiding-place, but the man had turned around, staring his terror off all over again.

The man didn't seem worried at Jaru being there. In fact, he seemed overly pleased; he was smiling anyway. Jaru had a gut feeling that this man wasn't a friendly one. If he got here, he wouldn't be. No humans were allowed here- legally. But how did he get here? There was a van in this clearing, too, so he couldn't have flown. Whatever he was doing, it was bad, and Jaru felt he suddenly knew why this man was so happy.

He had a sawn-off shotgun, and was pointing it at Jaru's chest.

* * *

E/N: A bit dramatic, I know. Still, there will be quite a bit of violence in this fanfiction. Anyway, two more things: if anyone wants to know why Tuftee's number of siblings has changed, it's because one of them has evolved, so doesn't count as an eevee. Unimportant, I know. 

I use _draih _as a swearword, in case you haven't guessed. It's slang for a trained pokemon, and used as an insult, back when trained pokemon were thought to be slaves by the wild ones.

Another note: I corrected the whole "toast" issue Dannichu pointed out XD


	2. Panic

Jaru knew what a shotgun looked like. He'd seen them on TV, and knew that this human could kill him at any time. 

"Get in the van," the man said calmly.

The language he used was typical Human. Still, it was a language that almost every hybrid knew- for some reasons it was taught at schools. Jaru's Human was understandable, but a bit shaky- he kept mixing up grammar for some reason. He found Kerain easier. It was more often used on the streets or at home; the mother tongue to most.

Jaru didn't move. He'd never actually seen a human, before, and wondered what he could do. He didn't seem very intent or anything except pointing the gun, though, but that was lethal enough.

"I said, get in the van."

Something leapt up on him from behind, and it looked and fought like Kret. Tuftee was there too, but he seemed to be hanging back, unsure of how to fight him.

"Give me some help here!" Kret yelled, before sinking his teeth into the human's neck.

Tuftee hesitated. "We might kill him."

"He'll kill us!"

The man howled at the next attack, but kept a firm hold on the shotgun. Twisting it behind him, he pressed it against Kret's skin and fired. Jaru was there, headbutting the man, but at the gunshot he retreated, while Tuftee anxiously examined Kret, who was managing to sit up.

"Get in the van, or I'll shoot you two as well," the man continued. He moved the barrel slowly over the three's chests. He'd only hit Kret in the leg, but it was bleeding a lot. Himself, his neck was bleeding where he'd been bitten, but only lightly.

Tuftee reluctantly climbed into the van. Jaru stared but Kret seemed to be trying to pull himself up too. The gun settled back on Jaru, with the man giving a questioning look to him. Glaring, he followed suit, pulling Kret into the back.

"Why did you..." he hissed, but they were interrupted.

"I don't want to hear any of that tongue. If you must talk, you speak in my language, understand?" He stared in the cabin.

Hit him, Jaru willed himself. Fire a Dragonbreath at him. But something made him stay back, the same thing he suspected had stopped Tuftee from attacking. He couldn't hurt him, and they couldn't run off- what about Kret?

"Help..." Jaru said, pointing at Kret. It was vital that this man understood; he wished he's payed more attention at school. "He need help."

In reply, the man slammed the doors shut, leaving them in darkness. Quickly, the van started moving. They were driving off somewhere. Jaru would have liked to have known how they were escaping, but there were no windows in this section of the van, and they were seperated from the front.

"Where do you think we're going?" Kret's voice said. He sounded calm and normal, if not quiet.

"I don't know. Among humans, I think," Tuftee relied. "Is your leg all right, Kret?"

"I've just been shot by a gun, but other than that, I should be OK."

"Is it still bleeding?"

"Yes. I think." The other two could hear fabric ripping.

Jaru turned back to him, though he couldn't see a thing. "What're you doing?"

"Don't worry, I just need to bind my leg with something. I'm using my shirt, OK?"

"Is the bullet still in there?"

Kret sighed. "I think it went through. It won't stop bleeding, I don't know what happened."

Jaru suddenly turned and banged on the metal seperating them from the man. "Help!" he shouted.

"He won't."

Kret was moaning again. "Why didn't I blast him with fire?"

"It might have missed and set fire to the trees or this van," Tuftee pointed out.

Kret growled. "I know, but I might have avoided him. If only he'd dropped the gun."

"You two can't use fire attacks now, that's for certain. This place stinks of petrol fumes," Tuftee said.

"I know," Kret replied, sighing.

Jaru had gone back to banging. "Help us!" he yelled. "His leg... it is bleeding!"

The man's voice sounded. "Be quiet!"

"But he can... die! He loses blood!"

The van went on moving. Jaru turned back to the others. "He won't listen."

"I'll live, it's not that bad," Kret said. "Hybrids are tough- I'll heal quickly."

"Then that must have been some shot to make you bleed like that."

The van suddenly stopped. The three boys barely dared to breathe as they heard a door slam, before sunlight flooded onto them as the doors opened. The man was standing there, holding what looked like a mass of straps. Jaru and Tuftee didn't recognise it, but Kret did.

"What is it?" Jaru asked.

"It's something they use to stop pokemon biting," Kret replied, glaring at the man.

"I said, don't speak that uncivilized language!" the man said.

Kret didn't bother to reply in words. He growled, something that the man could easily understand.

Gun in one hand, muzzle in the other, the man leant forward and pulled the straps tight over Kret's nose. He couldn't stop it without the man firing again, so let himself be dragged out of the van.

"Are you injured?" the man demanded the other two.

Jaru and Tuftee both shook their heads. They couldn't bear to see Kret, the one who always fought to get his own way, bound and captured like a prisoner or common pokemon.

The man nodded and kicked Kret to the ground, where he lay silent. Then he drew a length of rope from around his waist, and roughly pulled Jaru towards him, before tying his hands behind him and his feet together quickly. Then, after a glance to make sure Kret wasn't escaping, he did the same with Tuftee, before slamming the doors shut.

Silence and blackness pushed around them from all sides. Jaru could hear the man's angry voice and wondered where they were going and who would hear them. From what he'd seen, it was an isolated area with a large building to one side.

"What are they going to do to us?" Tuftee asked, worried.

"I don't know." Then: "Do you think he's going to help Kret?"

"No. He was treating him badly."

"But if one of us died after all the trouble he went to get us..."

A pause, before Tuftee said: "This isn't happening."

"It is, but it shouldn't be."

"Do you know where we are?"

"Definatly not Oslaw. I think near Olivine."

"They were treating Kret like a slave."

"Maybe we're going to be slaves."

Tuftee nodded in the darkness. "Olivine's got a port, right? We could be shipped out to other places like cargo."

"Mmm."

Jaru didn't want to talk any more. He wanted to think about what had happened, and wonder how they'd let it happen. _Why hadn't they just gone ahead and attacked him outright? What was going to happen?_ His binds were cutting into his thick skin, uncomfortable but not painful.

Footsteps. Doors opening and more sunlight. Jaru looked up to see three people- the man and two of his friends. He cowered slightly, before trying to make himself look brave. The humans didn't seem to notice- they reached in and grabbed Tuftee, letting him fall on the floor.

Jaru tried to fight at first, but remembered how useless it was, and let himself be pulled out too. Turning back to the van, he saw the third man pull out what looked like a body bag. Jaru shuddered. Then, looking around, he suddenly saw that none of them had guns, so he started to struggle.

The next thing he knew, there was a pain in his neck, and everything faded into black.

* * *

Jaru woke up what felt like some hours later in a very cramped place. Metal pressed against his skin, leaving a criss-cross pattern when he moved his arm or leg away. His neck was still hurting and he felt as though he were very tired, possibly because it was quite dark. He was so uncomfortable and tired that he immediatly made to fall asleep again.

"Jaru!" hissed a voice.

He tried to look around, but there was no space; instead, he shifted his neck ever so sightly and saw Tuftee out of the corner of his vision, very close beside him.

Tuftee looked even more cramped- he was lying curled up on his side with the wiring biting into his knees, and their cages seemed to be touching.

"Do you know where we are?" Jaru whispered.

"No." Tuftee coughed. "But we're not the only ones."

Jaru's eyes quickly scanned what he could see. There was only a little light, enough to see in greyed vision, and the whole place semlt musty. He could see what looked like another hybrids in cage. He wondered if it was Kret.

"What happened?"

"They injected something into your neck when you started fighting, and it knocked you out," Tuftee said quickly, "Then they dragged us and this other hybrid who was in that bag thing in here and crammed us into cages. That was about an hour ago."

"There was someone in the van with us?" he asked.

"Uh-huh. I couldn't see who they were exactly, but they were unconcious. I think they're in the other cage."

"So where's Kret?"

"I don't know."

Jaru shivered. "You think we should sleep?"

"I don't think there's anything else we could do," Tuftee said. "I don't know if they're going ot feed us or anything. I almost wish I hadn't seen that ruddy human."

"Almost?"

"Well, he could have gone for someone else if he didn't find us."

"He'll go back to Oslaw," Jaru whispered.

Before Tuftee could reply, there were footsteps echoing around the small room, and the door opened wider. "Someone forgot to lock the door," said an unfamiliar voice. Then it pushed open wider and a light flicked on, making the boys squint. The human this time looked to be a boy no older than them, and he knelt down beside Jaru's cave and stared.

"Hey, cool," said the boy.

Jaru resisted the urge to spit in the boy's face, and instead remained silent, glaring at him.

The boy didn't look away. In fact, he stared back. "Can... you... understand... me?" he said, slowly.

Jaru said nothing, but Tuftee gave a whimper and closed his eyes, which drew the boy's attention.

"You OK?" he said, actually sounding alarmed. _Maybe he's grasped the fact that we feel things as much as you do_, Jaru thought.

Tuftee just whimpered again and said nothing. Another, female, voice made Jaru almost jump out of his skin.

"You've taken him from his home, beaten him and locked him in a cage barely big enough to hold him. What do you think?"

The human boy jumped too, and Jaru's eyes focused on the speaker. She appeared to be a spearow hybrid, and slightly older than them. She was glaring at the boy, and was in a small a cage as them, although her wings made it look smaller.

"You actually talk?"

The spearow had spoken in perfect Human, but now said nothing. Jaru spoke up. "Yes."

Startled, the boy stepped back, before turning back to them. "I- I didn't know."

"So."

"Is this how you treat pokemon then?" asked the girl. "Or do we get special treatment now we talk?"

"I could get you food," the boy said.

"You listen," Jaru croaked. "Our friend, he is called Kret. He was shot in leg and is hurt. Do you know him?"

"Do I know where he is?" the boy asked.

"Yes."

"Sorry, I don't. But I know where the hospital is."

"What they do to us?" Jaru asked quickly.

The boy's face clouded over. "I don't know." He looked at the other, two, then at Tuftee. "Can I help him?"

"You could let us out."

The boy frowned at the girl. "I can't. They'd kill me."

While the girl suddenly started insulting the boy with a volley of unknown human words, Jaru sat and thought. _Humans must be more violent than we realised. Would they put a gun to one of their young?_

As soon as the swearing subsided, the boy spoke again. "Listen. I can get you food. What're your names?"

Silence. Jaru did not want to answer that question- there were some things you kept quiet to strangers.

"Look, please. My name's Jason." He wasn't lying.

Jaru sighed. "Jaru."

"Fine. I am Rehtaef. You will call me Taef," the spearow girl said. "But I am only telling you that because I could do a hundred things with your name, and human lies don't fool me."

Tuftee remained silent, but his hand gripped through the metal on Jaru's cage. He understood. "He is Turk."

Jason nodded. "I'll be back soon. And I'll look for your friend. What species is he?"

"Species?"

"He means species, type," Taef said in Kerain.

"He is houndour," Jaru said. "Badly hurt."

Jason said nothing more, and left the room, leaving silence behind.

* * *

E/N: Yes, Kerain is the language of pokemon. That I use, anyway. I use it as a hybrid's first language. Oh, and I got Taef's name from "feather" backwards. I was running out of ideas. 


	3. Trust

"Tuftee, how are you?" Jaru asked, trying to turn more towards him. 

Tuftee shook his head ever so slightly. "I feel all wrong."

"Not surprising, that," said Taef's voice. "How'd they catch you?"

"Kret found him, and we followed. Then he caught us," Jaru said.

"He's your friend, right? Is he badly hurt?"

"His leg was bleeding a lot. How did you get here?"

"He caught me. I'd argued with my family, so I was just sitting alone."

"When was that?"

"Today, I think. They must have used some drug to knock me out. I woke up here."

"You speak Human well," Tuftee said suddenly.

A sigh. "Is that something to be proud of?"

"I couldn't have told him about Kret," Jaru spoke up.

"I'm sorry, but I doubt he's going to get help. I don't trust him."

"Did you give your real name?"

"Yes. Human lies are easy to detect, and I can't do anything with his name unless he knows mine."

Tuftee coughed. "What can you do?"

"I can kill him."

There was a silence after this, before Jaru spoke. "Why would you want to kill him?"

"Because he's human. My brother was taken last year by them. Apparantly they like ones with wings. We never saw him again."

"This has happened before?"

"_Draih_, yes. But it subsided afterwards. We all thought--"

"Shh..." Tuftee moaned, his sharp ears catching a sound. The familiar clump of human feet.

Jaru waited. "Jason?"

"What do you know about Jason?" a man's voice asked. Too familiar a voice.

Jaru tensed. "We heard it said outside. Is that your name?"

"No. I expected you to be sleeping."

"Will you feed us?" asked Taef.

The man snorted. "Tomorrow you leave. I'll send someone in with something, but for now you'll stay here."

Silence. Nobody had anything to say, so the man left, this time slamming the door behind him and lcking it shut.

"Where're we going?" Jaru asked once he'd gone.

Taef sighed. "I don't know."

"Maybe Jason can't get in."

"What makes you trust him?"

"He gave his name."

"More fool him."

A longer silence. Jaru kept thinking the same thing. _If I had known this morning that I would be trapped in a cage..._

He must have fallen asleep, for when he awoke, mouth dried up, someone was poking him gently through the bars.

"It's me," Jason's voice said. "I'm sorry to wake you, but I've got food."

Jaru's eyes opened fully. "How you get in?"

"Dad gave me the keys."

Taef's voice. "Can you let us out?"

Jason paused. "Please," Jaru moaned. "Let Tuftee out. He hurt."

"He's called Turk, you said."

"Yes. Please, let him out."

A hesitation, before Jason fumbled with the keys and opened Turk's cage door. The eevee hybrid fell out, but since the cage was on the floor, he wasn't hurt. Even so, he didn't move.

"Shh," Jason said, even though he hadn't said anything. He set down the bag he'd beeen holding.

"Food?" asked Jaru.

Tuftee was still bent over into the shape he'd been in the cage. "I don't think I can move," he said weakly.

"What's wrong with him?" Jason asked.

"He's got cramp, wise guy," Taef replied in her flawless Human.

"You see Kret?" Jaru asked Jason.

"No. The hospital wing was locked, but there was someone in it."

Taef interrupted. "What food do you have?"

Jason started taking things out of the bag. "I stole some food from storage. Father only wanted to give you bread."

"Don't you obey your father well?"

_Sarcasm, Jaru thought, works well in both languages._ Jason sighed and turned to Taef. "Do you want help or not? Look, I'll let you out."

"I might kill you."

Jaru switched back to Kerain. "Listen, just let him help us, OK? He could be our only hope."

"You're right. I can kill him afterwards."

"Can't you let it lie?"

Taef's voice became harsh. "I can't trust him. My brother and I were very close, and now he's dead."

Jason was helping Tuftee sit up. His knees were bleeding, and he was shivering, wearing only shorts and shirt. "Should I let you out too?"

Jaru turned as best he could to Taef. "He still wants to help."

"Fine. I'll trust him. But one wrong move..."

"Thank you," Jaru said, in Human.

Jason quickly unlocked the other two cages, and the hybrids rolled out. Jaru felt as though his bones had been welded into place, and it took him some time to try and stretch out.

"Just please be quiet," Jason pleaded. "I don't know what my dad might do to me if he finds out I've done this."

"Humans are so brutal," Taef said casually. "They're not happy unless they kill."

The others ignored her. "Look, I've got food," Jason said.

Tuftee spoke out for the first time. "Thank you. Will you let us go? Help escape."

"What about Kret?" Jaru reminded him quickly.

"Where is hospital?" Tuftee asked, before adding, "And way out."

Jason sighed and kept on handing out food. "I'll help you out of here. I know that we're on the outskirts of Olivine. They're planning to ship you off to Houen tomorrow. But I can get you and your friend out, as long as I can come with you."

A pause. "I don't think humans are liked much in Oslaw," Taef pointed out.

"I know. Not there. Just... help me away from here, please. I hate it here. Before you came it was stolen pokemon. I just thought you were pokemon."

"You didn't seem to mind our being there."

"I know, I'm sorry. I suppose I was used to it and could do nothing about it. But seeing you is like..."

"Like you," Tuftee said.

Jason nodded. "Yeah."

All three hybrids could tell that he wasn't lying. Taef took a big bite of her bread, as though ashamed at being proved wrong. Jaru decided not to push it, and turned back to the topic of getting out.

"How do we leave?" he asked.

"I don't know how we'll get... Kret out, but this place isn't alarmed at all. It's just an abandoned carpet warehouse. There're guards, but I know a way around them. The hospital will be hard though; the door's strong. Nobody should be in it except him, though."

Jaru stood up and stretched in relief. "When do we leave?"

"Now," Taef said, standing up as well. "Jason?"

As Tuftee nodded, and stood up, with some difficulty, Jason nodded too. He leant out of the door. "Nobody's about."

"Is there cameras?" Tuftee asked.

"No. Nothing. Nobody would want to come here, anyway."

Jason immediatly left, and locked the door behind him when the other three had evacuated. "Hopefully anyone coming will think you're still inside. Come on, follow me."

The three hybrids followed the human boy as quietly as they could. Jaru barely dared to breathe. _Any moment now, he thought, someone's going to jump out at us and--_

"Get back!" Jason said. Jaru could hear footsteps, but they faded quickly, and Jason motioned for them to move on. Suddenly, they came to a door with a crude red cross on it. "This is the hospital place."

"So Krip's inside that thing..." Tuftee muttered, then switching to Human; "You have key?"

"No, I don't know where it is."

Taef was pushing against the door. "Anyone have firepower? We could burn it down."

Jaru nodded. "I could try."

Jason stared as Jaru took a step forward and aimed a Dragonbreath at the door. The white-blue flames didn't appear to burn the wood, But when he'd finished, there was smoking hole in itr.

Jason stared. "You shouldn't have done that! It sounded really loud!"

"No time for mistakes, let's get their friend," Taef said quickly, forcing herself through the door. Flicking back to Kerain, she called: "Hello? Any houndour hybrids tucked away in this cosy little room?"

A dark shape on one of the beds sat up. "Jaru?" asked a slurred voice. "That you?"

"Since when did I sound like a girl?" Jaru's voice asked from outside.

Taef sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Listen, Kret--"

"How'd you know my name?"

"Your friends outside told me. We have to go now. Can you walk?"

Kret nodded. "I'm pretty tough. They bound it up properly now and it's stopped bleeding. Throbs though."

"Yeah well, getting shot can dampen your day a bit, I'm sure. Come on, we have to leave now."

Kret swung himself out of bed, and gently put weight on both his legs. After a moment or so, he limped towards the door. "Who's that?" he asked, staring at Jason.

"Listen, he's going to help us, OK? His name's Jason and it's thanks to him we're not all cooped up in cages about the size of a TV," Jaru explained.

Jason nodded, even though he didn't understand them. "I keep feeling you're plotting against me," he sighed.

Kret showed teeth. "Don't tempt me."

"Maybe we should have kept that muzzle," Tuftee grinned. He seemed to have cheered up since they were all together and getting out of here.

Kret shook his head. "Nah, they took it off after they bunged me in there. No idea why, maybe they thought I couldn't get up or I'd suffocate in my sleep. Told me the door was fireproof anyway."

Jaru shrugged. "I burned through it."

"Listen, we have to go," Jason said. He was standing next to a window and had pushed it open. "We can escape out here."

"You go first, we'll catch up," Taef said. "Weedy boy, you go next."

Kret growled, but it wasn't at the comment. Instead he was looking behind her. Jaru jumped suddenly as he felt a hand clamp on his shoulder.

"How'd you get out?" asked a gruff male voice.

Turning around, the hybrids saw five humans, all standing with familiar-looking sawn-off shotguns.

* * *

E/N: Uh-oh. Well, please review, even if you thought that it was worse than... er... something you hate. 


	4. Prison

Four of the humans grabbed a hybrid, but the fifth turned to the window. "Did you get him?" 

There was the sound of a boy yelling, and above it, a man's voice; "Got him, the little blighter." The window opened wider, and Jason was pushed back in. He seemed terrified to see the man there. Jaru somehow knew that this was his father.

The man grabbed Jason's collar and turned back to the hybrids. "Since you're all so eager to go, I think you might be shipped off tonight." He pulled his son in front of him. "And you can go too, since you seem so keen to be with them."

"Dad--"

"Be quiet, boy. You knew this would happen, and if you're going to keep releasing prisoners, I can't have you here." He motioned to the larger of the men, who was already holding Kret. "Take Jason and the freaks to the van. The boat leaves at midnight, so we have to be quick."

Nods were exchanged by the men, and Jaru's captor roughly pulled him along the corridors and out of the warehouse. Jaru immediately took a breath of fresh air and tensed his muscles, but he felt the barrel of the gun being pushed into his side and kept walking.

Kret, Jason and Taef had been thrown in the van in front of Jaru, and now he was pushed in as well, Tuftee close behind. "Knock 'em out and tie 'em up," one of the men said, and the others nodded.

Jaru felt the familiar needle sink into his neck, and let them world spin, wondering when and where- and if-they'd wake up.

* * *

This time, he woke up first. He was wearing what seemed to be a version of the muzzle Kret had been wearing, except that he could feel straps over his entire head. He could feel ropes cutting into his skin; they didn't hurt so much due to his skin being so thick, but he was in an uncomfortable position, bent over with his hands behind his back and tied to his feet.

Looking around as much as he could, Jaru could see the glint of metal. At first he suspected that they were back in their cages, before he realised that there was no wire pressing against him. He also realised that somebody was in the cage with him- he could hear breathing. The breathing was slow but regular- he guessed they were still out cold.

Jaru waited patiently for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was a little light filtering through from a supposed window, but it was behind him and he could not move to see it. He could see some of the cage they were in; the roof was low and it seemed quite big, but he could make out the forms of other people in here with him. There were Taef's wings, tied roughly to her back with a few dislodged feathers sticking up; there was one of Tuftee's ears, and there was a figure sitting up, though still asleep, who looked like the boy, Jason.

How could humans do this to their young? Jaru wondered. If he was right in thinking, they only had an average of two or three children; only slightly more than dragons, but still; wouldn't they care instead of shipping them off to an unknown land like a prisoner? Like us?

That thought left Jaru thinking again: And I thought my mother didn't love me. Maybe he was wrong, he just had been too absorbed in the cosy lifestyle he knew. He remembered when he was seven, and ran off, his mother spent hours looking for him. Even Estelle had been looking for him with their parents. They wouldn't sell me off to humans, or let me go away, he realised. Shame he hadn't noticed that earlier.

The figure of Jason mumbled something and shifted a little, before opening his eyes. He was bound in more or less the same way Jaru was, except he was wearing a gag. When he saw Jaru and where he was, he didn't seem angry or surprised, just upset. He didn't bother to try and say anything. Jaru could still speak a bit, so he spoke now.

"Wait for dark to be clearer," he advised. Then: "It is Jaru."

A nod, though Jason probably couldn't see him. Humans probably couldn't see this well in the dark, Jaru suspected.

Another sigh. "Where are we?" Tuftee asked sleepily, his voice muffled a bit by his muzzle.

"I don't know. It's me, Jaru. I'm awake. Not sure about the others though."

"I'm here," Taef's voice answered. "I've been awake for some time. Weedy boy's still out cold."

No reply from Kret.

"Where are we?" Tuftee repeated.

"I don't know!"

"On a boat, I should think," Taef replied. "They said they'd take us to the port. Is that human kid with us? I can't see, I'm faced away."

"Jason's here, yes."

Jason must have caught his name in the foreign conversation, because he tried to say something through the gag.

"We won't hurt you," Taef sighed in Human. Then: "We're tied up."

"Are your wings hurt?" Tuftee asked.

Another sigh. "Yes. Hopefully they won't be injured too much. But they might cut them off. Depends what they want to use me for."

Silence at that, before Jaru asked, curious: "Is your beak tied up?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I snapped it off."

Suddenly, lights flicked on and Jaru saw a pair of boots through the criss-cross bars of the cage. Taef fell silent. Maybe she was trying to pretend she was still fully tied up. Jaru immediately pretended to be unconscious.

"You, boy. Are you awake?" asked the voice. It was a woman's voice, Jaru realised. He was curious to know what a female human looked like, but kept quiet.

"Yes."

"What about the pokemon?"

"Hybrids."

"Yes, them. Are they awake?"

"No."

"I should be able to untie them then. Remember, this cage is attack-proof. Tell them that, if they understand you."

Jaru heard beeps as she tapped in the entrance code, before a large section of cage gave way and her footsteps sounded inside. He waited for her to untie the others before she came to him. Briefly, he wondered why she had done that.

Finally, he felt someone grab his wrists and feet and cut through the rope, freeing them immediately. Jaru tried to let himself got limp, so she would think that he was still unconscious. He had seen that she had a gun. To his disappointment she did not take off his head straps, and when he was thrown back down he noticed that Taef's wings were still bound.

"I'll feed you all later," she said to Jason. "That's if they don't eat you first."

Suddenly, a growl came, as someone- most likely Kret- tried to jump up at her. But either his muscles were too cramped or his leg could not move properly, because he didn't get far beyond a half-jump. Jaru took the hint and tried to move too, but by this time the woman had slammed the door shut.

"Very cunning," she said through the bars. "But you can't escape now, I'm afraid. The ship has already been at sea for some time, and we will be arriving at land soon. You won't be any trouble." It was not a command they wanted to obey, butthey all notedthe authority in the sentence.

Silence form the prisoners, but Jaru sat up, limbs aching, and let his eyes' glare travel onto the woman and stay there. As a human woman, she was not much to look at, and he found her uninteresting.

As if showing an authority, the human tossed her hair and walked off, the lights going with her. Once again the hybrids and the boy were plunged into silent darkness.

"Why she untie us?" Tuftee asked suddenly.

Jason sighed audibly. The woman had removed his gag. "It's because otherwise your muscles will seize up and... you won't be... of... any use. And I suppose they want to feed us later without you moving around, though you're still gagged."

"What will they do to us?" said Taef.

A shrug from the figure of Jason. "I don't know. No idea what will happen to me, either."

Kret was saying something, but since his jaws were bound together, he didn't get much beyond mumbling. Jaru caught the word "show" but nothing else.

"Can you take it off?" Jason asked.

Kret shook his head, and as if to prove the fact, he dug a claw under one of the straps and tried to slice through it. Nothing happened, not even a faint white mark on the muzzle showed. His mouth opened a fraction and a tiny rush of fire broke out, only to be extinguished immediately. Kret sighed.

"Let me try, weedy boy," Taef muttered impatiently. Her clawed fingers dug underneath the fabric, but they did nothing except for cut a large gash on Kret's face. He did not even flinch, so Taef did not bother to apologize. Instead she admitted; "It's really tough. I don't know what it's made of but it won't come off."

"Yours came off," Tuftee said.

She dismissed that with a wave of her hand. "That was only rope; it snapped when I opened my beak wide enough." Then, turning to Kret, she asked: "Could you do that?"

The leather strained as he obviously forced his jaws apart; but after a few seconds they fell shut and he shook his head.

Jaru tried to unpick his straps, but they held firm. Again, he tried a Dragonbreath, but that barely left his mouth before it was put out, carbon filling his lungs as the air rushed back in. Tuftee seemed to be having the same trouble, but he couldn't try and burn through it. Not that it would have made much difference- Kret was still firing attacks but the material did not even blacken.

More footsteps. Tuftee heard them first and cocked his head to one side, as eevees tend to do. "People coming. Maybe to feed us?"

"So soon?" Taef asked, with only a hint of sarcasm. She turned to Jason and repeated the question in Human.

Before he could answer a light flicked on, half-dazzling Jaru's eyes with the sudden light. He did not bother to pretend to be asleep, since Kret was moving, so he sat up and looked at the new arrival.

It was another human, a male this time. He did indeed have food, something that looked like a large chunk of chalky white bread. The five prisoners watched him silently, until Taef suddenly broke the silence.

"Are you going to tell us where we're going?"

The man jumped, surprised to hear them talk. Taef spoke again. "When you're done being amazed at my intelligence, could you answer my question?"

"Dunno," the human replied.

"What?"

"I dunno where yer goin', OK? I only came ter give yer food." He indicated the bread. Taef did not look impressed.

"So how are they supposed to be eating?" she asked, indicating Kret, Tuftee and Jaru, who were still wearing muzzles and head straps.

"I'm gonna take 'em off."

"How?" Jaru asked. "We try that."

"Shuddup," was the reply, and the human opened the cage door. "I gotta gun, don' talk ter me or attack me or nuffin'."

"Terrified, I'm sure," Taef said sarcastically, but she said it in Kerain.

The five watched the man, aware that if they tried to attack him, he could shoot another of them. Even if they didn't know or like each other that much, each felt that they'd never sacrifice someone else for their sake. The strangest thing was, none of the five realised that they were thinking this. It came as second nature in both the human boy and the four hybrids.

Tuftee was first, the human producing something that looked a little like a key and wedging it in a place where the straps met. Jaru would have been fascinated to find out how it worked, but kept silent as Tuftee's head straps came off, and the human turned to him. He forced himself to stay still.

When all three were free, the man gave a little nod, as though he felt superior in some way. Which he probably did. He reached for the bread and threw it down on the floor of the cage, before shutting the door.

Jaru picked it up. It was tough and chalky; probably just to fill them up. He broke a chunk off and gave it to Taef, who in turn handed it to Jason. Jaru was surprised.

"If he starved to death I couldn'tkill him myself," she said defensively, when the other four stared at her.

* * *

E/N: More will happen next chapter, just so you know. Please review this one anyway. 


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